Whoop Whoop! 3/9/12

My Avante got a workout this week!  Two quilts, plus a deep massage (not the good-feeling kind).  I was given two tops to quilt.  The lady didn't want me to do different designs in each block like I did the first one she sent me, more of an overall meander.  I don't love an overall meander for most quilts (except the camo quilts I did for MA, which was the perfect design for the pattern in some of the fabrics).  So I meandered in the blocks and sashing, using different threads.  Then I did the different quilting in the borders, which spiffed it up a bit.

The second quilt was also a sampler from donated blocks.  So while I did an allover curlique (smaller in the blocks and larger on the borders), I simply had to do the center block different, to make it stand out.  Of course, as the quilt elf is wont to do when you're on deadline and for someone else's quilt, she jumped into the cogs of the machine and wreaked havoc.  I was within a foot of finishing!!

Mr. Happiness got on the phone with a tech, and after several hours, was able to get the initial problem fixed.  But then I was left with a horrible tension issue, and not just with the threads, but also my head!!!  My wonderful rep and her hubby walked me through lots of steps, and was on the phone with me for a couple of hours, before it got fixed up.  I was able to get the top finished in time.  BUT.  when I was looking at the back of it, there were nasty birds nests, and loopies everywhere.  So at 4 a.m., I was picking stitches out, and re-stitched about 1/4 of the quilt.  Aaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!  I finished within minutes of the prearranged pick-up time, but not to my complete satisfaction.  While it's a wallhanging and people won't see the back, I'm unhappy there are still some places with some loops sticking out.  Her hubby picked up the quilts since she's out of town, but I'm going to call her tomorrow and see if she wants me to pick out the rest and re-quilt.

There's one more quilt that I have a deadline for, and the owner is being very sweet and patient, but I'm almost afraid to being quilting on it!  So I'm going to put a small practice quilt on the frame and test it out.  Who knows why machines suddenly decide to go bonkers?  Would someone please tell me what I need to do -- special feeding, strokes, hugs, what? -- to appease the quilting elf so I can quilt in peace?

Sorry for the whine, I'm happy I finished these two, and hope to have something on the design wall for Monday!  Meanwhile, go see some talented women's links at Sarah's blog: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2012/03/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-anticipation.html

Whoop Whoop! 10/7/11

After I finished the "Flurry" top, I loaded this onto the Avante.  It's old fabric I purchased years ago from a vendor at the AQS Show in Nashville, one of those five 1-yard bundles.  Couldn't figure out what to do with them!  I mentioned it online somewhere, and a lady graciously sent me a hand-drawn copy of this pattern, which I really love!  Of course, the fabric was bundled with the pattern in the UFO closet for years and years.  Now I really love the quilt, I hope I can quilt it nicely enough for a Christmas gift :-)

Do you longarm quilters have your rulers and templates stored where  you can find them?  I had them stuffed in a drawer, and had to rummage around trying to find the one I needed.  (Except the Line Tamer, which has a permanent pocket in my quilting apron at all times!)  As I was in a resale shop the other day, I ran across this cute little CD holder.  Hmmmm.  Wonder if that would work?  Well, yes!  It works great!  Not for the larger circles, for example, but for the little ones that got hidden in the bottom of the pile, this works a charm.  I've asked my dear hubby (now called Captain B. Cool -- LOL!) to mount it on the wall in the Avante room.  Very handy, indeed!

To see other projects that have been completed this week, go see Sarah, here: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-two-down-one-to.html

Accomplishments!

I had a busy week, and got some things done!  Not like some of you overachievers, who manage to quilt four quilts, make seven tops, till the garden, do Fall cleaning -- no, I'm not a bit envious and I'm not trying to be snarky.  I'm just in awe of those who get so much done.  But the little bit I managed is happy for me :-)

I finished quilting a top for a friend who is making TWENTY quilts for a homeless shelter!  Now, she's one of those overachievers I mentioned.  I offered to quilt some, and so far have finished a grand total of TWO :-/  Oh well, here's the second one (back and front):

She sent me a low-loft batting, but it really puffed up to look like trapunto, so I didn't quilt anything in the green parts.

The tool apron!  This was what I'd call a prototype, which means I plan to make at least one more, right?  Well, if I do, there are a couple of things I'd tweak, but not much.  This may be just fine. It's loaded up with my Zune (the earbuds go through the back of the pocket and out through a hole in the top of the apron; here, they're draped around the strap), glasses, tweezers and seam ripper, tape measure, scissors (both large, in a pocket, and snips hooked onto the tab on top), etc.  That nasty looking bit on top is the piece of batting with threads I've snipped.

On Friday, a couple of us got together here for lunch and a bit of stitching. I'd wanted to try the "jelly roll races" quilt, which was enormously fun!!!  We gathered about 10 a.m., and finished around 2, with breaks for fixing lunch and eating.  So, I'd guess-timate it took me about 3 hours.  The first part took longest because I pressed seams open and snipped the triangles from the mitered joins.  This is a great project for a stitch-in, for making comfort quilts, or just mindless sewing!

I even started a new project!  I just stuck these on my design wall so I could take a picture.  It's going to have sashing between, and there will be more green and aqua boxes.  I think there will be 16, total.  Another fun pattern ("Flurry" by Kate Spain), very quick to put together.  I found some of her "falalalala" print that I may use for borders, but it's just green and red so might not go as well as I'd hoped.  We'll see.

And here's today's Annie sighting.  I had to put a new basket by my sewing machine -- the old one was too big and took up space on the sewing table.  This one fits perfectly on the top of the drawer section.  It looks too small for her, but believe me, she's been curled up small enough to fit into just half of that basket!  How convenient the designers of the basket left earholes so her hair wouldn't get that "bedhead" look :-D

This Week -- Whoop!

This week (see my post of the 22nd) I made a block for our guild's president, quilted a top and resumed work on a Christmas quilt .  Which got no further :-/  Because I dragged out this tote -- yummmmm.  

In this tote, I have my collected bits and pieces of hand-dyes and not-exactly-hand-dyes but that will go with this project.  I've wanted to make a Ricky Tims' Rhapsody quilt ever since I first saw his Fire Dragon quilt.  Oooooo, it's totally DRAMA!

And I started quilting this comfort quilt that a friend made to be donated via one of the local guilds.  It may be a veteran's quilt, and with these colors, I decided to do some geometric ruler work throughout the center, with wavy designs on the borders.  More details later :-)

All of which caused Annabella to crash on top of my Kaffe Fassett quilt, zzzzzzz.

Suddenly, I'm seeing trees turning color!  And while the temps don't agree, I'm thinking autumn.  My favorite season!  What's yours?  And do you make quilts to celebrate the seasons?

Go here to see what some fab quilters have been up to: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-tis-season.html

Pitchin' a Hissy!

This was an unusually productive weekend, and boy does that feel good!  Seems so often I wind up piddling away the day. Piddling?  Yes!  That reminds me to tell you about a book I'm "reading" via my MP3 player -- it's called "Hissy Fit" by Mary Kay Andrews.  It sounded like something fun to listen to, a change of pace from my usual mysteries.  And I love hearing the book because the reader uses a wonderful Georgia accent, and with the fun expressions, I found myself "tawkin' Suthen" again!!  In a darlin' little local boutique, I saw a sign that said something about getting results by pitchin' a hissy fit.  Anyway, I surely do recommend this book!  (I grabbed the picture from Amazon, btw.)

And listening to the book had me in such a good mood, I got busy in the sewing room. First thing, I cleaned up my sewing that I had royally messed up with threads, scraps, rulers, templates, books, etc. while I was finishing my last quilt. Then I got to work!  

My friend had made a Turning Twenty quilt for a guy who specifically requested camo fabric and browns.  So, of course, for the quilting she suggested a meander, which worked out perfectly!!  I hope she's happy with it, I am!  

In our quilt guild every year, we ask our president to suggest colors/patterns that she likes, and the membership makes blocks for her as a thank you.  This year the president asked for any pattern, using white and blues.  This block is called "Card Basket" that I used from Quilters Cache.  Are you familiar with that website?  She has blocks listed by size or by name, and I've never seen another site where you can find them all!  And she has the directions for them all here:  www.quilterscache.com  Be prepared to spend much time browsing!

This panel, "12 Days of Christmas" by Nancy Halvorsen, Benartex, has been aging in my UFO tote bin  shelf  closet for awhile, and I realized it's time to start making Christmas gifts!  So far, I added 5" blocks all around, a stripe border, and now I have these squares cut to make either half-squares or hourglass blocks for the next round.  Shhh, don't show this to anyone, tho, it's gonna be a gift :-) 

We will have had Annabella the Ragdoll for one year on 9/11, and she's about 20 months old.  We were told she'd continue to grow for 3-4 years, and her coloring would continue to darken during that time. Looking at a video taken about a month after we got her, she's changed quite a bit.  She didn't have a ruff around her neck, or the thick pantaloons that she has now, and she has darkened a little.  We're so happy we have her in our life!

Sunkissed Finished! Whoop!

And it's a quilt!  YAY!  I soooo love the Sunkissed line -- I bought a Fat Eighths bundle the minute it came out, and have been playing with making the blocks, undecided where I was going with it.  I used the most delicious shade of buttery yellow for the background. The sashing is a slightly orange-y yellow with light orange dots.  The borders are a light yellow batik, the look washed out in the photos, but they're nearly the same color as the background. 

From a panto set, I traced the corner blocks.  Then I did a panto on all four borders and used a large stipple to fill the blanks.  There was a lot of ruler work, and free motion in the blocks.  I do love this quilt -- the colors are my favorite, and I used a Mountain Mist Cream Rose 100% batting which makes it soooooo soft and snuggly.  I haven't washed it cuz I was eager to get it on the bed!   


You need to go to Sarah's website: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/ every Friday to see the happy finishes of other quilters, too!

After all was done, and I was going into the sewing room to clean up the mess, here's what I saw :-D  Annie was lying on the end of the ironing board, patiently waiting for some attention.  Amazing how she finds just the right height to be that makes it convenient to pet her -- isn't she thoughtful?

Progress on Sunkissed -- Whoop Whoop!

Sunkissed is a quilt I'm making for ME! For MY bed! It's the yummiest colors on this planet!  But I'm taking my time, SITD (stitching-in-the-ditch) to stabilize it before beginning the quilt. I've drawn patterns for the sashing and corners onto tracing paper. 

And today I sewed one border using a pantograph.  Since the whole quilt is SITD, I can turn the quilt sideways to use the panto on the borders.  I stitched the panto up to the corners, then used the drawings above in the corner blocks, then I echoed and stippled the empty spaces.  I used matching thread so mistakes wouldn't show, but it's so pretty, I wish I'd used thread that was slightly more contrasting. Maybe I'll go back and do some hyperquilting, a la Patsy Thompson.  

Here you can see where I drew the pattern on the corner using the Pilot FriXion pen.  Have you heard of it? Amazing!  After the scary experience I had with my Pinwheels (the blue washout marker didn't, until I washed the whole quilt in a cold rinse cycle!!)  I decided to try the FriXion.  You just draw on your quilt, and it's like a ballpoint, smooth, sharp, fine and comes in red, black and blue.  Then to remove it, you run an iron over it, and voila', it's clean!  Really!  It works!  It's advertised as an Erasable Gel Pen, and it does erase from paper.

Next, I'll be quilting the blocks -- pinwheel centers circled by flying geese. I intend to take my time, and it will certainly take time!  But so far, so good :-)  Doing all kinds of research online, reading books watching DVDs and YouTube, I've learned lots of little tricks.  I couldn't tell you where I learned about the FriXion pen, or this tip -- using a pants hangar and curtain rod on the clamp ends of the quilt.  The pants hangar wasn't complete tight all across, so I inserted a strip of the shelf lining stuff that's rubbery and knobbly, and it holds it firmly all the way across.  The curtain rod holds the clamp from drooping and pulling the edge of the quilt downward.

Here's a picture of the edge of a quilt I finished for the other bed, using a panto. I'm thrilled with how it came out.  The photo doesn't do the colors justice, just know it's yumm-o, too!  This one's 92"x98", and I was able to do it on my 10' frame with room to spare -- hoorah!

Annabella was exhausted by all the quilting going on, so after a hard game of feather-chasing, it was a long nap for her!

For other Whoop Whoop! accomplishments, go to Sarah's blog: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-sometimes-you.html

Friday Whoop! 7/15/11

Some days are diamonds, some days, not so much!  Diamonds, this week, for sure.  Or at least zirconias.  A friend had made three comfort quilts to be donated by our guild, and asked if I wanted to practice my quilting.  Sure!  I learned from Mindy Casperson in her DVD, "Longarmed & Fabulous!" to stabilize by stitching in the ditch before quilting.  Maybe I've heard that somewhere before.  And chose to ignore it.  But Mindy was adamant, so I did.  


Ever hear of a "Line Tamer" ruler?  (Here's info: http://www.fourpawsquilting.com/pages/template.html)  I love this ruler!!  It didn't take long for me to get the hang of using it, and since it holds your hopping foot on both sides, I felt like I had much more control on the stitching in the ditch!  That was a good beginning!


Then I brought out my circles:  http://www.creativegridsusa.com/products.cfm?item_num=BDQCIR&ref=c and I went to town making curves around the sides of squares.  I've done this free-motion on my Janome, but using templates is so much more precise!!  


That looked pretty good, if I say so myself.  But then, as I was unloading the quilt, I decided to take it up a notch, and did some stippling in every other area where the circles make orange peels. I love, love the way it turned out!!  Yay, me!!!  I'm feeling more confident every day that I can make a quilt even better with quilting!  And I'm learning so much every time: loading the quilt, deciding on threads, selecting the tools of the trade, stitching in the ditch, and doing something to make basic designs just a little better.  


Go to Sarah's blog: ConfessionsofaFabricAddict.blogspot.com to see other projects!

Adventures in Learning! Whoop Whoop!

Learning curve?  How about learning circles and sharp right corners, a few zigzags, and mountains, and cliffs?  I have been playing with my Avante, determined to learn all that I can about different longarm quilting techniques.  

After loading my first real quilt (not the "what was I thinking when I bought this fabric" practice runs), getting it all pinned on the frame, rolled and and clamped and ready to go, I realized I had it loaded wrong.  Of course!  If there's a wrong way and a right way, I prefer the wrong way.  I learn so much doing things at least twice :-D  After much consultation with the manual (!!!) and the DVD that came with the machine and YouTube, I decided backing-and-forthing among directions was the long way down that road.  So I now have a "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc." list hanging on the wall beside the machine!

So, anywayz, finally I was on the correct path, and fooled around with free motion quilting, and had a wonderful time!  After doing FMQ on my Janome, this was easy in a way, but also harder.  When you write with a pencil on paper, you leave the paper stationary (no pun intended) while you move the pencil around over it.  That's longarm quilting, right?  Well, I had spent the last few years unlearning that, and learning to use the pencil fixed while moving the paper around method.  They say it's hard learning new stuff as we get older.  Not only did I have to learn new stuff, but I had to unlearn the technique I learned while unlearning how to write on paper!  Trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about if you go from one technique to the other!!

But wait!  There's more!  While doing research and learning all I could from books and YouTube before I got my Avante, it sounded like pantographs are the easiest way to quilt, fast and done-done in no time at all.  YAY!!  I'm ready for that.  

You talk about unlearning!?!?!  Honey, you ain't seen nothing like unlearning while learning to use a panto.  Picture this: you're walking back and forth at the back of the machine tracing a piece of paper with a laser light, all the while trusting that it's coming out like it's supposed to on the quilt, because you're not even looking at the quilt.  What???!!!  The process also caused some more steep learning curves -- remember the wrong way that I like to do?  Those flowing lines of quilting designs, smooth and nesting together, row after row, that you get when you do pantos?  Um, well, not exactly.  Although the quilt is quilted, it's not quite as advertised.  I think I'm going to have to go back to the directions -- the books, DVDs, YouTube -- how's that done again?  I can do this.

Meanwhile, I have a tablerunner on the machine right now.  (It's loaded correctly!)  I have the ruler base on, and at hand I have those neat-o rulers I had to get right away because I can do ruler work with no problem, easy-peasy.  Ooooo-kay.  Easy-peasy?  Not so much.  But I am getting the hang of it, and while it looks pretty darn good on top where I used invisible thread, the bottom.. well, let's just say I've added "Step 7: use only busy backing fabrics with same color threads."  It's still dark-thirty this morning, so I don't have a picture of that process.  (What?  Plan ahead?  Take pictures in daylight the day before?  Well, yes, but I forgot it was going to be Friday.)

So my plan for the continuing studies of longarm quilting will include marking tops, with stencils and my own designs.  That will be the easiest technique of all, right?


A big Whoop Whoop! for me -- I'm persistent, anyway!  Go to Sarah's blog here: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2011/07/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-start-your.html for more Whoop Whoop! progress reports!

Whoop Whoop! 6/17

Remember the funky 70s girls quilt I was quilting?  I applied the binding by machine, so it was done-done right away.   My husband asked if he could take it out to show a friend who has a little pre-teen daughter.  "Sure!" I said, and off he went.  Came back with $$ instead!  He sold it, just like that :-D  I didn't even get a picture of the whole thing.  But I guess I don't mind -- LOL!!!

When I tried to put on the ruler base on my Avante, it went POP!  Split right in two, thought I'd been shot!!!  Oh, no!!!!!!!!  Well, my sweet dealer said she'd send me another one.  So while I waited, I made more geese from my Sunkissed project.  

I only need a bajillion of them, so I've got a few more to do :-)  I think these blocks are going to be set on point, so it will be big enough for my bed.  Right now, I have an old 30's repro quilt, and I need something modern.  Like me :-D  

The new ruler bed showed up yesterday afternoon, so I pulled out a quilt I started years ago.  When Amy Butler created the fabric line she called "Charm" I went bonkers!  It was my first experience with what I call "modern" fabrics, I think she started it all.  Fell in total love.  I made the center, but decided I'd add borders to make it big enough for the bed.  That only took me a few years to do -- I guess it had to rest in the UFO stack until I was ready.  Now it's big enough, I have the ruler base, so I'll start practicing my midarm quilting on it next week.   Also, on the advice of my Avante dealer, I've ordered a UPS for the machine.  We've been having power flickers, and terrible thunderstorms, so that should be arriving today or tomorrow. Just don't want to take the chance of burning up my new baby!!

But first, I'll be wrapped up in our local quilt show!  It starts this morning, lasts through tomorrow.  We have such enormously talented quilters here (authors and Paducah winners, even!), our show is just wonderful.  I put in some quilts, too, to fill the spaces :-)

So I've got to run!  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my birthday present that arrived day before yesterday.  It's so cool.  Later!  

Yeah, Kinda Like That!

Whew, that's how I'm feeling these days!  Too hot, too hot.  There's no way I could survive in Texas anymore.  Texas?  Not just Texas, it's everywhere!  I heard it was 100 degrees in Central Park, in New York!  And yet, I have friends honeymooning in Bend, Oregon, where it's been in the 60s during the day and 40s at night.  That sounds so good!


Somewhere in the Wonderful World of the Blogosphere, I saw a picture of just the corner of a quilt.  For some reason, the idea stayed in my mind, and a few days ago I started playing with bits and pieces on the design wall. As you can see, it's all thrown up there, and then it's like a jigsaw puzzle, moving parts here and there, trying out this and that.  I have just one block sewn together, but since this is just a work in progress, it may be re-done, too.

I do have a little quilt on the Avante, in progress.  The focus fabric is a wonderful, funky print of women in their 70s-style outfits, very hip ;-D  The inspiration for the pattern is from a book called "9-Patch Pizzazz" where you use larger pieces of the focus fabric surrounded by smaller blocks.  Sorta like the "Just Can't Cut It" book.  

So there it is, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.  

Learning process...

I truly *heart* my new Avante, it is a wondrous machine!  But, boy, am I glad I've done some machine quilting before, even if it's only been on my Janome.  Threading issue, oh, groan!  Here is one little tidbit I learned somewhere in my quilting past, that comes back over and over again to help me.  Even when I think it's wrong, and I stubbornly ignore it, it really is true.  If the stitching is lousy on the bottom, the problem is in the top threading.  If the stitching is crummy on the top, check the bobbin.  I'm sure there are exceptions, but start with that premise!


And by the way, how do you check your quilt bottom when you first start a quilt?  I really, really don't want to crawl under the frame to look!!  


When I'd quilted the first section of the quilt, I felt underneath as I began to roll it.  Oh NO!!!!!!!!!!!  Nubbies.  Rough stitches.  Know what I mean?  So I rolled it along enough so that I could see what the deal was.  I looked at the top threading, looked fine.  After all, I used the method of tying on the new thread to the old and just drawing it through up to the needle.  So I changed the bobbin.  I changed the needle.  I changed the top thread.  I checked the tensions again.  Still lousy stitches.  What the?????


After much angst and wringing of hands, when nothing else worked, I pulled out the top thread.  Re-threaded.  But I hesitated when I came to the thread guide just after the tension guide.  Does the thread go in front of it, then up to the lever.  Or does it go behind it, up to the lever, then around it.  Look at the owner's manual, dummy.  What?  I SAID LOOK AT THE OWNER'S MANUAL!!  Oh yeah, that's how it's supposed to go.  Sheesh.  So, after re-threading the right way, it stitched like a dream.  Imagine that!


So, except for operator error, I finished quilting the QOV quilt.  I had to piece the back -- the fabric along the bottom of the picture was the backing, but it was just *this* much too narrow.  So I added scraps up and down the middle, and it looks kinda cool.  Mr. Happiness feel in love with this quilt!  He usually likes my quilts, or at least comments that "it looks nice," but this time he was enthusiastic about it.  He doesn't often do enthusiastic.  So it's going to be a Father's Day gift to him (he is, after all, a vet, too), and I'll do a different QOV quilt to send off.  

By the way, the corners really are straight -- this was hanging across the Avante when I took the picture.  The whole quilt top is in a previous blog somewhere.


Read the manual, read the manual, read the manual.  If the stitches are bad on top, check the bobbin; if they're funky on the bottom, check the top threading. There you have two quilting lessons in one blog :-)




  

She's Heeeeeere!

Of course, I'm talking about my new baby, the HQ18 Avante :-)  And boy is she sweet!  The dealer, Linda of Creative Stitches in Glascow KY (I had the incorrect name, and changed it, I hope it didn't create any confusion), came with her hubby and set up, leveled, adjusted, tweaked the machine and frame, and she patiently taught me the basics of using it.  They were here for about 6 hours!  That's what I call customer service, and I wholeheartedly recommend them!  

By the time they left, my poor brain was totally fried -- I've never used a longarm, except for some timid doodling at a quilt show.  But I played all day yesterday, and just had a blast.  It's so different from quilting on my Janome, but also very similar.  I feel pretty comfortable with the quilting part, and I know practice will help with all those herky-jerky moves.  The loading and unloading are the tough parts!  Seems so weird.  But practice will help with that, too.  And I have lot o'flimsies waiting in the tote to become quilts.  Here's some of the practice areas:

The weather didn't cooperate today, it rumbled thunder off and on all day, so I didn't dare turn it on.  Maybe tomorrow!!!  In just this short period of time, I totally understand the passion and joy I've heard about quilting on a longarm, I'm loving this :-)


And with this happiness, I feel the need to share!  On Saturday, I'm going to have a little giveaway.  Just because.  Meanwhile, think about which you'd choose: chocolate or ice cream?
  

Design Wall Monday 5/23/11

Aw, man!  I hate hemming pants.  And when they have a zipper up the side, I double-hate it!!!!  Even when they have those zippers at the ankles, they don't stay at the ankles.  So, I'm working on shortening the pants, and they're those slippery workout pants, with a slippery lining, and with those #$(*&@( zippers at the ankles.  Grrrrr.  I always grit my teeth when I cut off pants bottoms, because I've used the wrong end of the ruler and cut off too much.  Then what can you do?  Ruffles, I guess, except these are my husband's, and I don't think he'd be thrilled with ruffles on the cuffs -- LOL!!!

I'd hoped to add the borders to the QOV quilt, but all I've managed to do is put the middle on the design wall, and I'm auditioning borders.  I think it will be 2" red, and 5" dark blue.  That will bring the dimensions in line with the size QOVF requires.

This pattern was so easy to make, I think it would look awesome in Army colors with gold stars, don't you?  QOVF says they don't have to be red/white/blue, but that's what I always use for my quilts for vets.  I think I'll try other color combinations for the next one.  Go to Judy's design wall page to find other quilts in progress: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/05/23/design-wall-monday-may-23-2011/

Do you have ants in your house?  We suddenly have a trail, and are battling those little critters.  Seems like every Spring we get a few, but this time it's bazillions!!!  I never find a food source, or the nest, strange.  They're really excited about something this year!!

Have a great week!  Only 29 hours 28 minutes (or so) until my HQ Avante is supposed to show up.  Tick, tick, tick.